SLCHG Pilot Project: COLLABORATING

Posted by: Linda AK Thompson on June 4, 2014 3:45 pm

This project [3] spans 4 years [September 2013 to November 2014 or 50 months] and 9 months [18%] of the time-line has lapsed since launched.  The motivating factor was based on client psychotherapeutic needs expressed by the target population: a small sub-group of clients, who despite many years of traditional/publically funded health care treatment, plus concurrent use of privately funded complimentary/alternative medicines/therapies [CAM], continued to struggle and suffer from high degrees of dis-ease or treatment resistant, thwarted trauma responses.   The impact [depth of suffering] upon their overall health/wellness and functional abilities was noteworthy in their activities of daily living [ADL], and familial plus work-related relationships.

The project hypothesis is that the target population, who meet criteria proposed for C-PTSD [1], may benefit from a practical, clinically coordinated and collaborative team approach of healing-to-cure health care design as mentioned in previous articles http://www.ccpa-accp.ca/blog/?p=3192 .  Additionally, the co-investigators are searching for 16 more research control subjects http://www.ccpa-accp.ca/blog/?p=3436  in order to complete comparative analysis of the selected trauma [research] test instruments administered to the target population for the purposes of the project.  My primary practice role[s] and function[s] remains and continues to focus on engaging [research, advocacy, healing] with heroic survivors who are capable of self-directing their recovery and healing-to-cure programs/journeys.  Being the eternal optimist I am, as evidenced by my own healing-to-cure journey plus 50 years of service delivery in the helping professions [trauma nursing/trauma counselling]; I know my greatest clinical psychotherapeutic skill set is patience with active listening [content analysis] in the depth-of-“it”-all.  I am willing to work creatively with people, who are internally motivated and embarked on healing-to-cure journeys.  They are the experts, no matter what “it” represents at the depth of their own core sense of being.  I am able to stand firm with them, in the now, for I remain anchored by faith, hope and love at my own core.

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*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

SLCHG Pilot Project: HEALING GOODS + SERVICES

Posted by: Linda AK Thompson on April 17, 2014 10:35 am

Many children survivors struggle in adulthood as they endeavor to recovery/heal from the aftermath effects that manifest in an array of ‘psycho-neuro-immunological’ disorders, i.e. C-PTSD, substance ‘sensitivities’ with personality traits perceived as borderline or borderland [1].  It is time for us to honor the children’s wounds containing stark terror moments bound by speechless terror in the core.

These heroic childhood survivors are stymied across the decades on many levels in various arenas for the fact remains: the leaders [politics] continue to resist and disavow the legitimacy of Judith Herman’s 1992 proposal for the category of C-PTSD [4].  Receiving essential health care services remains is essential care for any deeply inflicted wound upon a naïve innocent and dependent being and the recovery:  mending and healing from deep-seated [primitive] core wounds require the help of empathic others.

Deficient funding is a major money factor that crosses all cultures, socio-political boundaries in lands, developed and undeveloped countries, all over the planet for when it comes to ‘who gets what’ kind of health care service, especially mental health care services – only God knows and money talks.  During my five decade career, I have witnessed major shifts from government run/controlled ‘institutional’ care models with staff in salaried positions into our current 21st Century ‘regulated’ helping professionals care model where private practice and “contractual” funding agreements for all kinds of community ‘care centers’ operations [profit + non-profit] health care services and businesses exist.  Slowly and surely, all the helping professionals will be ‘regulated’ where members operate private practices consumers have coverage for or are willing to pay out-of-pocket for.  Regulated members will receive a ‘health care provider number’ that ought to assure the public the services are bona fide, claimable and within the approved scope/practice that is insured and supervised?

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*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

SLCHG Pilot Project: HEALING DANCES !

Posted by: Linda AK Thompson on April 9, 2014 12:51 pm

The dance I am referring to is the slow, gentle, titrated releases or dissipations referred to as “the warble” [1] noteworthy during SRT treatment.  Overwhelming trauma response [unprocessed] contained within the clients trauma vortex is simultaneously supported and grounded by the therapist’s ability to hold/self-regulate as the client taps into their innate resources available in their healing vortex.  The ebb + flow of the warble represents energy shifts, movement between the vortices and is a shared experience where both parties are changed by the dance.  Trauma is part of the human condition and in order to help another, helping professionals must first heal themselves.

Survival, integration and reconciliation from traumatic lifetime events [TLE] are the most important relational, adaptive and healing matters that affect connections and the quality life.  Survivors with C-PTSD typically need help learning how to connect, trust, regain a sense of self in a secure, safe therapeutic relations.  The critical ‘missing’ factors noted in a survivor’s existence with C-PTSD secondary to early childhood attachment, neglect and abuse experiences and formation of a core trauma wound.  What do trauma test scores from a healed control group reveal as compared to the client group populations?  Since 1995, I remain a primary investigator for MOT: Research – test instruments [2] and continue to search for, find controls to aid in the understanding of clients with core wounds and suggested criteria of C-PTSD phenomena.

To date, 9 people [7 female/2 males; 5 professionals/4 lay people] met criteria [see below] and were randomized into the Control Group. Within this small group of control subjects, 4/9 [44%] presented with no evidence of a core trauma wound and accompanying C-PTSD phenomena implying healthy growth, development and maturation with an ability to accommodate/modulate [self-regulate] stress and trauma response.  In 1993, the beginning of formulating MOT, my husband and I volunteered and were randomized into the MOT: Control Group.  Since this time, one control has died [natural causes] and I completed my core [medical trauma] healing work in 2004.  There are 51 clients randomized into the Grief Group, 132 into the Childhood Abuse Group, and 44 into the Cultic/Ritual Abuse Group.

The control group is sparse and needs more subjects.  If there are any professionals willing to volunteer for trauma testing and join the control group by answering:

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*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

SLCHG Pilot Project: Design, Launch, Conflict + Human Factors

Posted by: Linda AK Thompson on March 10, 2014 4:21 pm

PROJECT DESIGN:  February 2013 to Launch of November 2013
Project Time Frame:
  November 2013 to November 2017
Candidate Participants:
7 females  – mid-twenties to 50+ [mean 56].  6 Canadian; 1 American
SLCHG-Core Practitioners:  4 – 1 Trauma Counsellor, 1 Naturopath/Chiropractor,
1 Classical Naturopath + 1 Body Therapist/Intuitive Healer
3 PHASE HEALING-TO-CURE PROGRAMS: 
Entry Program
:  Intake, Significant/Traumatic Lifetime Events History, Crisis + Critical . Occasion Stabilization, Medication Review, Symptom Complex [SC].  Graph, Pre-Treatment Assessment , Establishing Collaborating Team + SC Dissipation + Stabilization [able to contain]
Fulcrum Program
: Stabilized, attending, engaged + compliant with collaborating core + local practitioners with ability to decompress/contain/maintain basic  stability/ADL function while processing/integrating trauma memories between treatments sessions
Cure Program : Feels trauma vortex containers released, reconciled with historic TLE,    . majority of traumatic bereavement=forgiveness of self/others done. Working on positive sense of self / and has well enough worldview.  Able to adapt, self-regulate stressors + accommodates in situations, relationship with significant others, contributes @ home + work.                                                                                                                

Transition Program Option: treatment program suspended for an undetermined period of time as participant attends to acute medical issues, critical or crisis life events.                                                                                          

PRE/POST PROJECT ASSESSMENTS:
1) Mood Scale [4]
2) Braverman Nature + Deficiency Tests  [3 – pgs. 44-58]
3) Dissociative Experience Scale [DES] [12]
4) C-PTSD Criteria [10] Research Instrument [16]
5) Feeling Faces Inventory [FFI] Grief Work Instrument [14]
6) Draw-A-Core [DAC]: Projective Core Test [1997] – Personal Core Healing Work
7) 5 Symptom Complex Graph [SC Graph] Research Response Log [16]
8) Treatment/Progress Reports + Evaluations

PROJECT MATERIALS:
1) Trauma to Healing Vortex Collaborative Case File
2) Literature Reviews [Counselling Connect]
3) MOT: Homeopath Standing Orders:  Trauma-Specific SC Trials/Single Session Use [15]
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*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

SLCHG Pilot Project: Debunking Myths of Sunset Clients + Anomalous Experiences

Posted by: Linda AK Thompson on February 24, 2014 4:49 pm

Since my last 2 articles relating to the project, I am grateful, pleased to announce that the editor of Counselling Connect created a category for Blog Posts related to trauma counselling.  This will make it easy for readers to find/follow the progress of this research project/field of study.  The focus of this project remains the creation/development of a specialized, blueprint treatment program for posttrauma survivors with anomalous experiences.   Despite completion of effective Contemporary Phase 1–3 traumatic stress treatment programs; they continue to suffer/endure aftermath effects related to anomalies addressed by Herman [4], proposing a category for Complex PTSD [C-PTSD], implying treatment-resistance and labelling: fact, fiction or myth that they are “Sunset Clients” [6].

For background information: personal disclosures, professional development and motivational factors sustaining my interest in this field, readers can refer to previously submitted articles under the title – “The Emerging Field of Psychotraumatology in Canada.”  For the past 25 years, a small sub-group of PTSD survivors have presented with an extreme, severe degree of trauma vortex profiles Herman wrote about.  These heroic survivors have graced my private practice space and we worked hard towards healing goals.  With reservation, I acknowledge, but resist the idea: fact, fiction or myth inherent in the label that some survivors of severe childhood trauma will be ‘sunset clients.’  This term is pessimistic and fatalistic; neither helpful nor hopeful, and all this label does is promote complacency within the professions and helplessness in clients.

Instead, this project provides us with opportunity to create, study and better understand severe core psychological wounds in an active case study format where anomalous experiences are noteworthy, addressed and may debunk the myth that ‘sunset clients’ are doomed and damaged beyond healing-to-cure. These exceptional human beings deserve service from a helpful village of practitioners’ concept, where collaboration occurs and anomalous healing – cure is envisioned.  There is an ancient African proverb from Igbo and Yoruba regions of Nigeria that states, “It takes a village to raise a child:”http://www.reference.com/motif/society/origin-of-it-takes-a-village-to-raise-a-child.  For sunset clients [trauma vortex poster children], this proverb was lost during their childhoods and I believe collaborative teams can simulate a good enough, second chance village experience stimulating anomalous healing – cure.

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*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Silver Lining Core Healing Group [SLCHG]: Defining Complex + The Project

Posted by: Linda AK Thompson on February 3, 2014 9:54 am

In the last article, I shared my professional wish and impetus to create MOT: Pilot Project: SLCHG utilizing collaborating team approaches [CTA] of care with clients diagnosed with C-PTSD and capable, able to self-directed their healing journeys with their selected core group of practitioners towards cure.  All project participants believed that the sharing of project news and progress was an important contribution to the understanding, treatment and healing knowledge of survivors enduring C-PTSD core wounds.

Before, I share project news and progress; I believe it is important to provide a brief historical psychological review of the word/meaning of  “complex” that Judith Herman proposed be placed in front of the established DSM 3 disorder – PTSD back in 1992 [2].

A complex is a ‘core pattern of many thoughts, emotions, memories, learning, behaviours, feelings, perceptions, wishes, triumphs, bitterness and determinations centering on one aspect of your life that is stored deeply in the unconscious and troubles you’ in accordance to Freudian and Jungian psychoanalysis: complex or depth psychology.  Contemporary 21st Century references to an array of affect laden, emotionally charged or state-dependent phenomena commonly used are: Cinderella, Electra, Father, God, Hero, Inferiority, Madonna-whore, Martyr, Oedipus, Napoleon, Superman and Superiority – complexes https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex

SYMPTOM CATEGORIES + DIAGNOSTIC CRITERIA FOR C-PTSD [3]: ALTERATIONS was the predominant verb utilized to identify the seven categories or diagnostic criteria set to diagnose C-PTSD during a structured interview [4]. The alterations are:
1. Regulation of Affect + Impulses issues noted by the existence of difficulty with affect regulation plus one of the following: modulation of anger, self-destructive, suicide preoccupation, difficulty modulating sexual involvement and excessive risk taking.
2. Attention or Consciousness issues noted by the existence of amnesia and/or transient dissociative episodes and depersonalization.
3. Self-Perception issues noted by two of the following:  ineffectiveness, permanent damage, guilt and responsibility, shame, nobody can understand and minimizing.
4. Perception of the Perpetrator this item is not required for diagnosis and includes:  adopting distorted beliefs, idealization of the perpetrator and preoccupation with hurting the perpetrator.
5. Relations with Others issues noted with one of the following:  inability to trust, re-victimization and victimizing others.
6. Somatization issues noted by two of the following: digestive system, chronic pain, cardiopulmonary, conversion or sexual symptoms.
7. System of Meaning issues noted by existence of despair and hopelessness or loss of previously sustaining beliefs.

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*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA